If you have fears about homeless people in your neighborhood, I advise that you go talk to them. Bring a handful of twenties, if you can afford it, hand them out and talk to them like human beings.

You’ll stop feeling as scared and start feeling sad and angry that people have to suffer needlessly.

Many, many, MANY studies show that the cumulative costs of harassing homeless people—cops, prison, jail, etc—are much more expensive than just housing them and providing income, and that doing those things helps people get to the point where they’re not in crisis any longer.

We choose cruelty.

Also, I've worked directly with people in permanent supportive housing - your schizophrenia, for example, doesn't go away when you become supportively housed, but you do get access to care. And you don't have your low points on a sidewalk. You have it safe in your apartment.

What else has happened in the intervening decades that might impact homelessness might be a better question to ask rather than "is housing first causing homelessness?"

Coop Man
Coop Monster
Little Deuce Coop
The Guess Coo
The ol Cooper Pooper
Coop-a-Roni, the San Francisco Treat
Coopy Whoopy Doodle All Day
The Coopster
Cooooooooooop
Good Coop Bad Coop
Cooper Man